Religion in India: A Historical Introduction

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• 1 On Wearing Good Lenses List of illustrations and maps xiii
  
  
  • Lenses used through the years
    
    
    • Pejorative putdown
    
    
    • Romanticism
    
    
    • “Noble savage”
    
    
    • Interpretation by imposition
    
    
    • “Benign neglect”
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • On understanding the “nature” of religion
  
  
  • Recommended reading
  
  
  
  


• 2 Sources of Indian Religion
  
  
  • Hunting communities
  
  
  • Agricultural communities
  
  
  • The “Indo-European” influence
  
  
  • The Vedic period
    
    
    • The ritual system
    
    
    • Hymns and commentaries
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Recommended reading
  
  
  
  


• 3 The Early Urban Period
  
  
  • TheUpanis.ads
  
  
  • The “heterodoxies”
    
    
    • Jainism
    
    
    • Early Buddhism
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Recommended reading
  
  
  • Timeline of Chapters 2 and
  
  
  
  


• 4 The Urban Period
  
  
  • The context
    
    
    • Kingship and artha
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Theism: Buddhist and vaidika
    
    
    • Devotionalism
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Articulation of an “urban” ethic
    
    
    • The household
    
    
    • The role of women
    
    
    • Ja ̄tior caste
    
    
    • The symbolism of food
    
    
    • Yoga
    
    
    • Summary
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • The epics
  
  
  • Aesthetics and the arts
  
  
  • Religious life at the popular level
  
  
  • Developments in Buddhism
    
    
    • Kingship
    
    
    • Ethics
    
    
    • Attitude toward city-state
    
    
    • Pantheon
    
    
    • Iconography
    
    
    • Sacred spaces
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Recommended reading
  
  
  • Timeline of Chapter
  
  
  
  


• 5 The Post-classical Period
  
  
  • South India
  
  
  • Bhakti
  
  
  • The emergence of temples
    
    
    • as ̄
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Deities as reflections of cultural history
  
  
  • Philosophical developments
    
    
    • S ́aiva Siddha ̄ nta
    
    
    • Veda ̄ nta
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • North India
  
  
  • Temple construction
  
  
  • Tantrism
  
  
  • The rise of the goddesses to “high deity” status
  
  
  • Buddhism and Jainism
  
  
  • Recommended reading
  
  
  • Timeline of Chapter
  
  
  
  


• 6 The Coming of Islam
  
  
  • The origins of Islam
    
    
    • Sunnı ̄s and Shı ̄‘ı ̄s
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Islam in India
    
    
    • The political context
    
    
    • Diversity of Islam in India
      
      
      • Sunnı ̄s
      
      
      • Shı ̄‘ı ̄s
      
      
      • Su ̄fı ̄sm
      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Recommended reading
  
  
  
  


• 7 Developments in the Late Medieval Period
  
  
  • Orthopraxy
    
    
    • Hindu polities
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Devotionalism
    
    
    • Mara ̄thı ̄
    
    
    • Benga ̄lı ̄
    
    
    • Hindı ̄
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Accommodation and appropriation
  
  
  • Conversion
  
  
  • Syncretism
    
    
    • Sikhism
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Recommended reading
  
  
  • Timeline of Chapters 6 and
  
  
  
  


• 8 Streams from the “West” and their Aftermath
  
  
  • Religious minorities
    
    
    • Jewish communities
      
      
      • “Cochin Jews”
      
      
      • Bene Israel
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Syrian Christians
    
    
    • Zoroastrians or Pa ̄ rsı ̄s
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • The “colonial impact”
    
    
    • The Portuguese, British and other Europeans
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • The Indian response
    
    
    • Stage one
    
    
    • Stage two
    
    
    • Neo-bhakti
    
    
    • Muslim responses to coloniality
    
    
    • Inter-religious relations: conciliation and confrontation
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Pre-independence India
  
  
  • Recommended reading
  
  
  • 9 Religion in Contemporary India
    
    
    • The context
    
    
    • The practice of religion
      
      
      • Pilgrimages and festivals
        
        
        • Va ̄ra ̄n.ası ̄
          
          
          • ani, Tamil Nadu ̄
          
          
          
          
        
        
        
        
      
      
      • Festivals
        
        
        • Makara Vilakku, Sabaramala, Kerala
        
        
        • Bonalu, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
        
        
        • Festivals in other religious communities
        
        
        
        
      
      
      • The shrine or temple as the focus of religious expression
      
      
      • Ritual in other religious communities
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Religious innovation, hybridization, and reinterpretation
      
      
      • The changing faces of deities
      
      
      • Conversions of another kind
      
      
      • Gurus and their movements
        
        
        • The Brahma ̄kumarı ̄s
        
        
        • The Satya Sai Baba movement
        
        
        
        
      
      
      • The resurgent right
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Recommended reading
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• 10 India’s Global Reach
  
  
  • Greater India in Asia
  
  
  • The westward impetus
    
    
    • Early contacts
    
    
    • The colonial period
    
    
    • The modern era
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • The emigration of South Asians
  
  
  • Recommended reading
  
  
  • Glossary
  
  
  • Notes
  
  
  • Index